KATE MEADOWS, Times staff writer
Frankfort is not alone in its struggles to understand the immigration influx. Nor is it unique in its unease over undocumented workers in the area.
Communities across the Midwest have seen the effects that immigration, some of it illegal, has caused. Some are good. Some are bad.
But how each handles its particular situation is a testament to that community's identity and how it is perceived on the national spectrum.
Here is a glimpse of three Midwest cities seeking to understand how they are shaped by a substantial immigrant population. With that comes the question of what to do about those immigrants who are undocumented.
It's a balancing act for leaders in Logansport, Austin, Minn., and Marshalltown, Iowa.
All confront a flurry of opinions and act in what they believe is their cities' best interests.
Still, none have all the answers.
Where does Frankfort fit into the bigger picture?
Logansport
Diversity is nothing new to Logansport.
In its 170 years as a community, it has embraced Italians, Germans, Irish and other foreign nationalities, said Mayor Mike Fincher.
"We have always been a diverse community," said the mayor, who began his second term in office in January.
When Tyson Foods opened a processing plant there in the 1990s, the company advertised locally for workers, Fincher said. But local response to the ads was not enough.
"If local people didn't want the work, they'd bring the work force in from outside," Fincher said. "Seemingly overnight, our population increased by 25 percent."
That population influx included a wave of migrant workers from Mexico. Mexican workers brought their families, and families bought homes.
There was no way to know whether the immigrants were legal or not, Fincher said.
Officials contacted the National Immigration Service and asked what they should do.
"They told us it was none of our business," Fincher said. "It's their job, according to them, to decide whether someone is legal or illegal."
With that, officials called the state attorney general's office to ask the same question. Again, they were told to leave the issue alone, Fincher said.
So leaders turned their attention to implementing community programs.
"Many from other countries don't understand how we do things," Fincher said. "We can either guide them, or we can force them. It's a lot easier to guide them."
A local program, Diversity Dynamics, brings together a cross-section of Hispanic residents and community leaders, including law enforcement, county commissioners, and representatives of the United Way, Chamber of Commerce and Tyson Foods.
"What we hoped to accomplish was to make them (immigrants) part of the community rather than putting them in the corner," Fincher said.
A committee stemming from Diversity Dynamics, called Intercultural Alliance, aims to educate community members about the rules and laws that govern the city.
"We try to meet with them at the workplace and inform them about the city ordinances and the county ordinances," Fincher said. "We're continually working with the Hispanic population to get them involved in these groups. ... We are working very hard to make them a part of the community."
Fincher believes that if Logansport works to assimilate people into the community, the city will ride out a smoother future.
Today, the local Catholic church is progressive, and Hispanic businesses occupy downtown storefronts.
"Frankly, if it weren't for the Hispanic businesses that have located in our downtown, we would have several empty stores," Fincher said.
But embracing change takes patience, understanding and a willingness of the people to accept change, Fincher said, adding, "I think as a whole we've accepted the Hispanic community."
Austin, Minn.
Austin, Minn., known for its Hormel and Quality Pork plants, used to be an affluent community of 29,000 and proud of its lack of diversity, according to Mayor Tom Stiehm.
But a factory strike in the 1980s caused the plants to hire replacement workers, many of whom were immigrants. At first, the town attracted a large number of Asian immigrants, Stiehm said.
Then, 10-12 years ago, Hispanic immigrants began to fill the jobs.
Stiehm, who moved to Austin from Milwaukee in the 1970s, was working in law enforcement then, and he knew some of the incoming immigrants were operating under the radar.
"It didn't bother me back then," he said.
When he ran for mayor in 2007, he was bent on building a new justice center in town.
"That was my issue," he said, "but all anybody wanted to talk about was immigration."
The town's official population today is about 24,000, though Stiehm thinks it's closer to 27,000, including illegal immigrants.
"We're not as prosperous," Stiehm says, adding that Austin receives a lot of state aid.
He acknowledges that illegal immigrants are blamed for some of the town's problems. For example, some lack driver's licenses, which puts the insured residents at greater risk and creates more work for local law enforcement.
A tragedy in the nearby town of Cottonwood has brought that argument to the screaming forefront, after an undocumented immigrant crashed into a school bus, killing four children last week.
When he showed up for work Monday morning, Stiehm faced a lot of angry e-mails from people arguing that more similar tragedies were going to happen if leaders like himself did not start cracking down on illegal immigrants.
"They want you to get rid of all of them," he said. That question commonly comes with, "What part of illegal don't you understand?"
Stiehm agrees that the current immigration laws are in dire need of change. But still, he says, beyond checking legal status when a person is arrested, there's not a lot that can be done about it at the local level.
"When I ran for office, I said the only thing you can't do is nothing. But in effect we're really doing nothing. There's not a lot we can do," he said.
By not taking action and not allowing local officials to step in, the federal government is condoning illegal immigration, he contends.
The mayor says he is against illegal immigration. But he also refuses to see his city divided during his leadership there.
"Basically, I had seen Austin split before," said Stiehm. "I will not be in charge of policies that will split the city.
"I don't want our city to look back on a legacy of bitterness and fighting," he says. "We just try to keep it quiet and muted until something gets done."
Marshalltown, Iowa
This city of 30,000 in east-central Iowa has garnered national attention for its high immigrant population. Mayor Gene Beach says Marshalltown has changed from a "sea of white faces" to a pool of diversity.
That's a good thing - at least for those immigrants who are in the country legally.
"When I'm speaking about immigrants, I'm assuming legal immigration," Beach said. "We're not supporters of illegal immigration."
In the 1990s, the Swift meat packing plant there started hiring large numbers of Hispanic immigrant workers. Today, Beach estimates about 20 percent of the community is of Hispanic origin.
The change in demographics contributed to uneasiness at first, Beach said, when large numbers of Mexican men started coming to Marshalltown to work and shared apartments.
When immigrant families began to join their loved ones there, they bought homes, and many of the problems subsided, according to Beach.
"That was when the church really got involved in it," the mayor said, coordinating community and family activities.
Leaders assembled a diversity committee to host meetings that addressed cultural issues.
In December 2006, Immigrations Customs Enforcement raided the Swift plant, hauling away 93 workers.
Five other plants in the state were raided the same day, with an additional 1,100 being taken into custody.
"When the raid hit, those businesses that were Hispanic-owned of course suffered quite a bit," Beach said. "It was an emotional thing."
Community leaders turned their attentions toward the children of those who had been arrested, with a goal to ensure that no immigrant child was left alone.
"You can still feel sorry for someone who's left behind," Beach said.
"A lot of people say if they're illegal, they should go home immediately. ... If you bring a Hispanic in that's your neighbor, there's a face on that person. It's harder to say, 'Go home.'"
Recently, with the support of the local Martha Ellen Tye philanthropic organization, city officials including the police chief and former mayor traveled to Villachuato, Mexico, where many of Marshalltown's immigrants are from.
"It was pretty easy to see why (immigrants left)," Beach said, noting the poverty.
When the travelers returned, the police chief created a video in Spanish with the hope of communicating to immigrants Marshalltown's way of life.
Today, the city embraces its diversity, with an annual Hispanic Heritage Festival and thriving Hispanic businesses. The diversity committee has fizzled, Beach said, because it was no longer needed.
Forty-four local businesses are owned by Hispanics, and they are successful, according to Beach.
"We have a lot of diversity in business here," he said.
Conclusion: Solutions and advice to Frankfort
Grappling with the effects of immigration while remembering both documented and undocumented immigrants populate a community is not easy, the mayors say.
In Frankfort, a great number of residents say immigration is its greatest challenge.
But the mayors of the three Midwest cities look positively at the same challenge they faced.
For them, understanding the demographic changes has allowed growing opportunities within their communities.
"Do stereotypes exist in Logansport?" Fincher asks. "Sure. That's human nature, isn't it?"
As mayor, he says he confronts those perceptions, often with a lot of prayer.
How a community will deal with its immigration influx depends on the attitudes of its people, he says.
"Please believe me. We don't have all the answers," he said. "But we're more than willing to do whatever we can to help a neighboring community."
As for how the others in the community of Austin perceive the illegal immigration problem, Stiehm says he's not concerned.
What matters to him is that at the end of the day, he has stayed true to what he believes is the right thing to do.
"I'd rather get kicked out of office for doing what's right than staying in office and doing what's wrong. Going after immigrants just isn't the right thing," Stiehm said. "Treat people with respect and demand it for yourself."
The biggest complaint in Marshalltown, Beach says, is that immigrants aren't assimilating quickly enough.
"Learn the language and become legal," he says, is a common plea.
Above all the tension, he says, communication simply has to continue, on both sides of the illegal immigration debate.
"Keep lines of communication open and try to bring people together," he suggests. "You don't march under Mexican flag; you march under the American flag."
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